Sun Yi was utterly shocked and confused, as a core disciple of a first rate guild for the last one hundred years, he had thought he experienced the finest things in life. His food, courtyard, cultivation methods and techniques, and combat experience had been provided to him by the sect because of his qualifications. This was verified again when he was tested during his registration, excellent wood root, perfect fire root, a genuine prodigy.
The hotel room he was staying in wasn't better than his cave, but the mediation space and spirit gathering array was. Sun Yi hadn't eaten in years but when he heard that his Sect Master was going to have dinner, he decided to try one of the recommended restaurants. It amazed him that this meal was so rich in Qi with no impurities, that he ate way more than expected. He even went to the 'theatre' this morning and watched 'The Origin Paradigm'. The story of a war between artifact spirits and cultivators was enthralling. The way it told the story of Tang Chen's journey of being a human raised by artifact spirits next to untold billions to escaping with the resistance to realizing his potential as a holy son was something Sun Yi had never experienced before.
Sun Yi made up his mind, and bought the newest Qphone, only to return to his hotel room and watch Sirena privately. Like many of the cultivators that first saw the 'trailer' for the movie and acted disinterested, he was simply embarrassed to admit that he wanted to watch it. He also watched the first episode of 'The Westward Journey' and was surprised when a monkey hatched from the stone. The monkey is crowned 'The Monkey King' and oversaw all the monkeys living on the mountain of flower and fruit. One day one of the monkeys die and the episodes ends with the monkey king setting off to find enlightenment for him and the other monkeys so they can live forever.
When Sun Yi saw that the next episode wouldn't appear for another five days, he was rather annoyed. Since he had heard so much about the QR pods from the White Tiger alliance, he decided he should go there next and experience this artifact. It didn't take long for Sun Yi to travel to the QR pod cafe, and rent a pod.
He tried the Monster Hunt first and fought a giant pangolin that ended up being challenging for his level. Even though he won in the end, the experience was thrilling: this 'virtual' realm felt real, the beast he fought felt real and used tactics, attacks, and behaviors that were appropriate, and Qi that entered his body as a reward was the purest he had ever known.
Sun Yi tried the Solo Arena mode next, and after easily winning a few matches decided to quit to try more modes. When he saw the next mode was Team Arena, he passed over it to the next icon, mirror match.
Sun Yi stopped as he read the description, 'Mirror match consist of two modes: Perfect Mirror and Ultimate Mirror. Perfect mirror creates a perfect mirror of the challenger and the opponent will use all the same methods and techniques of the challenger. Ultimate Mirror will create the ultimate copy of the challenger, but this copy will use all possible elements, combinations, attacks, defenses, and movement that is possible by the challenger, whether the challenger is aware or not.'
Sun Yi's interest was peaked, so he entered the perfect mirror mode first. Forty something minutes later the match ended with his defeat.
'I had heard from the others that mirror mode was the best way to learn about yourself', Sun Yi contemplated, 'Looks like they were correct, this was very enlightening.'
He entered the Ultimate mirror mode next waiting to see his optimal state. Four minutes later, he exited the match and took the helmet off.
He was so shocked that he couldn't stay silent, "This is impossible, how could such a large gap exist between me and this doppelgänger."
The experience shook him to the core, and he put the helmet back on and displayed the report of his Ultimate self. He really want to study this in-depth but due to time, he instead moved the information to his Qphone for future study and inspiration.
He moved on to the gameroom and quickly learned and competed in several of the board games. He was impressed in how a simple game could be so deep and strategic and made a note to play in this room from time to time.
Sun Yi opened Speed Paradise next and was excited when he realized it competition involving the strange 'vehicles' seen driving around the air, but also flying ships, and boats. Though he was able to quickly learn how to operate these unusual artifacts, he was able to place in the top three in his first few races. Sun Yi decided to wait a bit longer before trying this mode again as it was deeper that anticipated. He finally selected the last game mode available, and the one that he saw on the QTV this morning, The Destiny of the Fairy and Sword.
As he entered the mode, his view changed from the courtyard he was in, to an inner room with a high-grade couch and two beautiful mirrors. As he sat there looking at himself, a voice began to speak, "Welcome to the world, traveler. Would you like to start using your own memories, or would you like to live a life of another?"
The two mirrors were shown to him, the first was a reflection of himself but much younger. The second mirror was a form that changed every six seconds, from a human swordsman, to rat beastkin wearing dark clothes and a mask, to a merfolk casting elemental techniques, and so on.
Sun Yi picked the first mirror and he saw himself entering the mirror. He panicked for a minute because it reminded him of the scene he watched in 'The Origin Paradigm' after taking the pill. He even removed his helmet to ensure he was safe.
After his fears were waylaid, he went back into the game to himself looking into a different and tarnished mirror. Sun Yi was shocked because his looks were very close to what they were at twelve years old in real life. He really began to how this artifact was able to recreate his twelve year old body without his knowledge. The tutorial showed up in front of him and the began to explain about status windows and how to advance. After he went over all the instructions and tutorials, he looked at his character and sighed. This was just cultivating from the first level of the Body Perfecting stage again and Sun Yi wasn't in the mood to do so. So he exited this mode and saw his account in the mirror displayed his name, level one cultivator and location, and he understood that at anytime he could come back and start at this point again. He went to the second mirror and entered it, not feeling the same nervousness as the first time.
The voice began speaking again once he ended up a darker room, "Many lives and experiences are available for you to see. What race of people does this life experience come from?"
Sun Yi looked at all the options before selecting merfolk. Immediately the room filled with water, and a weak outline of his character was floating there.
"Is your new life this time male or female?", the voice continued on.
"Male", Sun Yi answered.
"How does this new life appear?", the voice asked.
Sun Yi used his imagination and some time to create an in-depth look and story to this character.
"Do you wish to give this new life a name or allow its name to be randomly chosen? If yes, what name do you give it?", the voice questioned Sun Yi.
"Indra", Sun Yi said after thinking for a few moments.
"Final question, do you wish to assign the spiritual roots to this new life or allow the system to randomly assign it?", the voice asked, "If you wish to assign the spiritual roots, please state at this time."
"I wish to assign water roots to Indra", Sun Yi replied.
"One moment please", Sun Yi watched as all his prior correspondence came together and a new merfolk came to life around Sun Yi.
Sun Yi stood there in game feeling a connection to water Qi despite his own fire and wood roots. While this should have caused a deviation in Qi, Sun Yi didn't feel any pain, it was similar to a fire element cultivator using a water escape talisman. Now, as the merfolk Indra, Sun Yi started exploring this new world.
All the leaders of the different factions were being transported towards a new restaurant, The Waterfront Jewel. The limousines brought the guests to the entrance, close to the waterfall. Once checked in, each organization is escorted to a ball-like artifact that transports the guests from the entrance to their dining area. As they are transported, they see multiple rooms on the side of the lake that house guests enjoying their meal until they notice large domes on the bottom of the lake. They realize that their dinner today will be in the largest dome in the middle of the whole lake. As each guest arrives, Huoran greets them at the entry point, "Welcome to the Waterfront Jewel, I hope you enjoy your stay here."